Monday, October 24, 2011

It's been a tough year on the not so charm anymore! Ok, fact is, I made it that way. If you follow my blog, you know we live in the Country. Out. Land of Nowhere. And most days, I love it. But last year most days I hated it. Truth is, I got a dose of "City", and I looooved it more. So without thinking and without rationalizing I called a real estate agent to come put our house up for sale and move us! At any cost, just move me!!!!The place that I am calling the "city" is a town about 30 minutes from us that blings baby. It has a Starbucks on every corner, shops, restaurants, movies, concerts, you name it and the best part is the golf cart paths. You can take your golf cart to any of these places. Its a busy-laid back city, sounds contradicting, but that's what it is. The people of this little place are different. Well, maybe I am the one who is different. Whatever. So they just ride around all day, eat and shop. Or that's what it looks like. The houses have no yards, so there's more time for family, right?! The kids ride golf carts to school. How Awesome would that have been not to have to ride the cheese?!But truth is, my family wouldn't be happy with all that bling. I raise 3 boys (counting Jason :)) and they love the county. They love the space and freedom. They love the outdoors. They love the solitude. And I love my family. So I've decided to seek reality, look from a different perspective and beg God for contentment. And its working. I am falling back in love with my roots. So who knows where God will lead us, but I know for now where He is keeping us and that is ok with me! Now, bring on the bonfires! It's Fall Y'all!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

And the first time you touched me, I felt love.
And after all this time, you're still the one I love.
Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday
They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're the one I want for life You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night
Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin' You're still the one that I love!

Jason and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary on 9/22/2011.
Wow, did I just say it? 10 years?! Time sure does fly.
The last 10 years have been amazing and I can't believe what all we have done and where all we have been (physically and emotionally). In 10 years, we have bought a little house, on a little piece of land, in a little town, and started a little family. I love our little world and I am looking foward to celebrating many more decades together!
For our anniversary, we went camping, no Bahama cruise, no diamond rings (that's a later story), no bed of roses, just me.Jason.and our camper. It was so relaxing and so peaceful. We spent a lot of, much needed, overdue, time together doing absolutely whatever we wanted and it was wonderful. We played games, took walks, rode bikes, slept late, ate late... No one was screaming 'I'm hungry' or 'you gotta come see this'.
Just perfect!
Don't get me wrong, I missed my boys like crazy, but it was so nice to appreciate them again! :)
Raising a family, homeschooling, working, and just life wears us down and sometimes we forget what we have and how we got here. Its was great to reconnect and rethink our priorities. I hope we don't have to wait 10 years to do this again!﻿

(our private oasis)

Sunsets

setting the mood

Then and Now

Jason Brewer, thank you for everything, especially loving me even when I am not lovable!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I have a new job. I am a stay at home, full time wife and moma! Wow! I love my new title.

I have been at home with my boys for 4 years (Maximus is 8 and River is 4), but I haven't been devoted to them since I was also devoted to my job, working from home. I am so grateful for those years, the opportunity to be able to make an income, raise and teach my boys at home and the many lessons we learned together. It was, some days, truly the best of both worlds.Hindsight, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

When I had Maximus, my mom switched shifts and we rotated keeping him. Looking back, I don't know how we did it. Those were some stressful years on all of us, but I don't think either of us would do it differently if we had to do it over again.

When River was born, it was time everyone lived normal and I wanted to stay at home with my babies. Since Maximus was only 4, at the time, I kept him at home too (before I knew homeschool was in our vocabulary). I wanted to spend my days with them. I, nervously, unsure, quit my job. But a few days later, my boss called and asked if I wanted to work from home. What?! HALLELUJAH! YES!!! And so with dial-up Internet, a brand new baby, and a mischevious 4 year old, I took on the responsibility. Needless, to say it was a looong, hard 4 years. And it got harder each day. My boys started getting older and wanted more of my attention, and the job became more demanding as the company grew. But I knew it was what I had to do.

I kept hearing God tell me to close the doors. And I kept saying back, 'God, you can't be talking to me, we don't make ends meet with two incomes, how would we do it with one?' And He'd reply, 'you'll find a way.' I would say 'But, God being able to be at home and make money too, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, I have to make it work', and He'd say, 'I have other plans for you, ones with richer opportunities'.I would tell Jason about my conversations with God and that He is calling me to stay home, and he'd say "I think you are hearing things".

So in my own world, one that I controlled, Maximus drew a picture for me and as most moms would say "awww sweetie thank you, that is so sweet", I burst out in tears. It was a picture of me working downstairs with him and River playing together, alone, upstairs.He had no idea why I was crying. He took the picture back and colored some flowers on my "desk". This is not what a moma was supposed to look like, this is not how I wanted him to remember his childhood. SO to "fix" things, I moved my office upstairs! There. That should make it better. Um, not so much. My convictions of staying at home were becoming so strong it was taking over and I was starting to fear not listening to God.

A fellow homeschool mom brought a magazine called Above Rubies, to our group to give away.I took it home and dropped to my knees when I came to an article called "I have God's permission", and in it, it quoted Titus 2: 3-5 (look it up). And that night I told God, I hear You and I am listening. I will close the doors at Wells Fargo and open them at home. I will follow You.And so, it's official. After 8 years in the office, and 4 years working from home under my belt, August 13th, 2012 I am now a full time, stay at home wife and mother, living on faith.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Whenever I get sick, I mean I get sick! I run high fevers and am bed-ridden!Recently I had no choice, but to call in and Maximus had to be my fill-in. I was so proud of him as he proved to be such an amazing kid. It felt good to know that he could step up to the plate when he had to. He really helped take care of me, by helping take care of River. He made breakfast and lunch for them and went above and beyond. They took a bath, got dressed and did... SCHOOL WORK! Yep, you read that right! Maximus did his own workbook page and practiced his reading by reading to River. I could hear them, but was too sick to lift my head, but not too sick to smile. It was the sweetest thing I have ever encountered!Here is a sweet little note left beside my bed, In case you can't decipher 6 year old spelling... "I hope you get better. I hate it when you get sick and I love you". This was my strength to get better!

Maximus and River participate in Awanas on Wednesday night at our church and they love it! They (River repeating Maximus) will ask everyday "what day is it?" wanting to know if its Wednesday or not. This is Maximus's 2nd year in Sparks and River's 1st year in Puggles.One of the reasons they like it so much is because of all the FUN, activities and theme nights. Hobo Night!

Backwards night (he forgot he might have to go to the bathroom)!!

River loves to participate too!

I don't have pictures, but they also had tacky day, pajama day and their favorite black-out night, where all the lights were out in the church and the only way for us to see was with flashlights and glow in the dark necklaces and beach balls, it was my favorite too!!

Well flag football season is over! It was an interesting season with all the rain! There were 8 games in all, they canceled 2 of them and we had 3 make-up games in place of practice, so not much practice either! But I can't complain because its the highlight of Maximus's year as he loves to play!! This is his 2nd season and its so cool to see how much he has grown physically and spiritually. He is an amazing kid!! Go #21!!!His serious side doesn't show very often :)

Running a fake play! Maximus loved running the fake plays. You should know as it goes with his personality.

Jason coached the team when he could... because of his recent life change, I mean job change, he wasn't able to be at many games/practices, but it was the highlight of his day when he could!

Friday, October 9, 2009

For Awana's, Maximus had a sailboat race called the Raingutter Regatta. Each participant had to design their own boat. Maximus wanted a pirate boat, with flames! Jason putting his "signature flames" on

Monday, October 5, 2009

We decided to take a break from the books and enjoy a different scene of nature, so we went to a little park in the next town. It was a beautiful day! I wish we could go here every week! Which trail should we take??

The boys listening to nature sounds.

What in the world is this? Maximus said it looked like chocolate chip pancakes growing from the tree.

Look at these berries!

The creek had rushing rapids!

The water was soo cold!

River is in heaven

"Look at me, mama"

At the end of the trail, before heading home, we thought it'd be cool to pick a favorite fall leave and trace the veins!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eight years ago today, September 22nd, I married my best friend, the one I laugh with, the one I love. We've been down many bumpy road, but thank goodness for seat belts!And thank God for grandparents! They kept our boys while we spent much needed time together this past weekend celebrating our anniversary. It was wonderful. We drove up to North GA Mountains and 600+ stair-steps plus the trail, we were at the top of Amicalola Falls. It was very strenuous, but worth every breath. The Falls were breath-taking beautiful and so peaceful. We picnicked at the base of the falls by the creek, then drove the SR home, through Dahlonega, detouring through Helen for a pound of fudge!We had a great time! The natural beauty

(Before)

At this point, we were standing on a bridge that sits very close to the fall. It was pouring down rain, but it felt as though we were getting wet from the fall. It was awesome!

(After). I was soaking wet, had already climbed 175 steps to the bridge, and had 425 more steps to go to the top!

Beauty-ful!!

The sounds of the falls were so peaceful

The top of the falls, looking across the mountains. The air up here was so fresh.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Maximus is very interested in his family, his generation and his ancestors so I decided it was time to do make his family tree, using a lapbook, of course!But before we branched out, I wanted him to study a little about himself, so we made a book about him and one of my favorite parts of his book was a page that he dictated about his bedroom. He said 'I love my bedroom because I share it with my brother and we have a boat full of stories' (which he is referring to a bookshelf made to look like a boat). He's already learning "creative writing"!!Briefing on adjectives, I asked him to name some "feeling words" about his home... and he said safe, creative, love and cozy... sweeeet!!

Inside the door was a picture of all the members who live in his home...

and inside the window is a picture of what you would see if you looked in and he drew a picture of me and him with a big heart... I melted!

We also learned some facts about his home state, Georgia... geography being one of his favorite subjects.

Then the family tree! It was really cool for Maximus to see how generations work and who's who! It always amazes him when he finds out my grandmother is actually my father's mother, etc.

Maximus said he wants to keep going and find out who is ancestors are!!

My Family

About Me

I am Stephanie, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a stay at home mom, cook, maid and finder of all things. I am in love with my husband. Together we have 2 amazing boys, a little house on a little piece of land on a little road in a little town. We have 3 four-legged furry children, who love unconditional. I homeschool my boys and our journey began when our public school started and my 5 year old was still at home with me!:)
I have 3 BFFs and a loving family. I guess I am just one lucky girl!